First Day of Chemo

Good morning! I'm blogging from the Infusion Department at City of Hope. This is it! Today I will have my first ever Chemotherapy. I'm receiving Fludarabine (floo DARE a been) via IV. This medicine is used as therapy in preparation for bone marrow transplant. Not sure exactly how it will make me feel, but I'll let you all know tomorrow. That's all for now.

Little Girl, Full of Hope

I had a PICC line inserted at City of Hope yesterday morning. Unfortunately, I had to come back around 6:30 pm because the dressing was soaked with blood. What I thought would be a 2-minute dressing change ended up being a 6-hour ordeal. The doctor ordered a unit of platelet because I was actively bleeding from the PICC site and I also received two units of packed RBC. My CBC result came back with a Hgb of 7.4 - no wonder I was feeling crappy.

I was waiting for my nurse in room 5 when I saw the little girl being pushed in a stroller by her Grandma. She was maybe 4-6 years old. She had a pink blanket, her nose and mouth covered with a mask. I knew it was her when I saw her green eyes. I first saw her in the Pediatric Department on the 3rd floor. She was wearing a purple and white striped shirt, purple vest, light green, ruffled skirt, purple flip-flops and a purple headband to match. She was bald, but I could tell she used to have blonde hair like her mother. She was very beautiful even without hair. She only spoke Russian, her mom had to translate everything the nurse said. The little girl kept looking at me while my nurse was starting my IV. Our eyes met and I could tell she felt my pain. "You're a brave little girl and very beautiful," I told her. She didn't need a translator. I'm sure she knows exactly what brave and beautiful mean, and I'm sure I wasn't the first person to tell her that. I never got her name, I just know what she looks like. When I saw her again last night, I was sad because I knew she was there for hydration. At the same time, I was very happy to see her. To me, she is a friend... a special one.

My New Hair Do

I found a store in Pomona called "Crown's Wig." The store owner is this really nice Asian lady. Her store has been open for 20 years. Because I'm undergoing Chemotherapy next week, I figured I'd buy my wig today. The lady helped me pick out a wig and turban and showed me how to put them on and how to care for it. When she found out from Raul why I needed a wig, she was in disbelief. "But you're so young," she said. She felt bad for me but I assure her that I will be fine. Everything rang up to around $250. I've lost track of my medical expenses but I'm sure my husband hasn't. After all, he is a Financial Advisor. The trips to the ED, the hospital admissions and doctors appointment - it's quite a lot when you add them up. But God is good all the time. And all the time, He is good.

From my BlackBerry

There really is no reason for me to not be able to blog. Thanks to technology, I can blog from my iPad, phone, laptop or desktop. I guess you can say that the only excuse I have is I'm tired. Being anemic is no joke! People always tell me to eat more green, leafy vegetables and eat liver and don't forget to take iron pills. However, the kind of anemia I have is not due to low levels of iron. As a matter of fact, my iron level is way too high that I need to take a medication called "Exjade" to get rid of it. Although I stopped taking it because I started getting these weird bubbles under the skin of my palms. There's always something, I swear. All I want is to have my energy back. I want to be able to do the things I used to do, without being short of breath. I want to be able to take care of Danica. I love her sooooo much!

1st Year Wedding Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to my dear husband and best friend! You are my favorite person in the world. I love you so much!!! Thank you for the gifts and card =)

Ipad2

My husband, Raul, has been wanting to buy the ipad2 for me but it was sold out everywhere. He got lucky yesterday at the Woodland Hills mall. I was very surprised when he came home with it. At first I thought he only got me the accessories because those were the only things in the Best Buy bag. Even with just the accessories, I was already happy. It was an assurance that he was for sure going to buy it for me. Then, he pulled out two white boxes from his work bag. I couldn't believe my eyes...he got me an iPad!!! The other box was the keyboard, which I will be using when I blog. Although I'm not using it right now because it's in the bedroom and I'm too lazy to get up. But hey! That's a different story. Anyway, just wanted to test this thing out. I love my ipad2! Good night everyone :)

Youtube

I did it! Today, I finally uploaded Danica's videos on youtube. My account name is "Leics16." Here is one recorded on February 2nd, 2011:

Poor baby was in NICU for antibiotics because I had a fever right before the C-section. She's now 2 months old and doing very well. Thank you for all the prayers!